Cameron, Caine and National Service
Even Jackart reckons the Tory National Citizen Service scheme is more that a little bit crap. Trying to save the Nation’s youth is a worthwhile enterprise – however, if your solution is a glorified summer camp where the state gets free work from the youth, you’re going to end up looking like a bit of a dickhead. Particularly if you’re promoting your proposal with an old actor whose only exposure to the problems facing youth today is a recent role in a shit movie.
But that’s not stopping Cameron. No, he’s a-gonna save the youth regardless of details like practicality:
Mr Cameron added that the aim was to give young people more shape and purpose in their lives.And Sir
"Show me a gang taking drugs and I'll show you a group of people who have nothing to look forward to," he said. "The problem is their lives lack shape."
Sir Michael said it would help youngsters "forgotten in this country".Thanks for that, Alfred, but I think we’ve heard enough – back off to the Batcave with you.
"There is a very, very hardcore of [young] people we have really got to save," he added.
Now, this proposal is clearly flawed, but in fairness Cameron seems to be stressing that he has sought, and then acted on, advice:
He admitted that his initial proposal for the citizen service scheme was for it to be compulsory, "but youth leaders told me that would have been the kiss of death".Well, I’m glad that youth leaders saw sense, but I am slightly concerned that they seem to have a better grasp on reality that the Leader of Opposition and possible next Prime Minister.
So instead, while the scheme will be available to every 16-year-old in the UK, it will be voluntary.And here we hit yet another problem. Not only is there something extremely distasteful about the idea of the state getting free work from the youth, and something very concerning about the massive funding gap at the heart of this project, but as soon as you make this voluntary then you aren’t going to be getting to those junkie yoofs that so concern the man who was once Harry Palmer to join up. Seriously, those wayward and difficult young people aren’t going to be the sort of people who rush to volunteer themselves for government service, are they? The kids who will end up doing this service will be the preppy fucks who do the DofE award and other voluntary work already.
This scheme really is the very definition of pointless. Get a grip, Cameron. At the moment your photo opportunity with an actor who is well past his prime is making you look pretty dumb - and far too willing to embrace the sort of meaningless, wasteful, ill-thought-out policies that have become so symptomatic of the Nu Labour years.
Labels: Caine, Cameron, Celebrities, Films, National Service, Witless Morons
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 10:59 am
3 Comments
3 Comments:
He should never have entertained the idea of it being compulsory. He should have known that anyone calling for enforced national service has shit for brains without waiting for someone who actually works in the third sector to tell him.
My view is simple, that people who sign on should be told about volnteering & if they can prove they volunteer can receive benefits & perhaps not be expected to make such efforts to look for a job. Being as there are so few jobs available & a lot of people would struggle to get them.
Any charity that sees potential in someone will be more patient as a boss of volunteers than a profit-making company would. So it can benefit people who aren't up to much right now. But it is not only illiberal but a waste of time & money to try & compel them. In fact, I see no need for state involvement at all, beyond saying that interns & volunteers can be paid the normal benefits like JSA, & having schemes whereby students can get credit towards their degrees by volunteering in relevant sections (to be arranged by universities with the relevant charities, not government bodies).
I used to volunteer, I am all for it. But the fact is that this system is just the same sort of make-work quango shite he should be standing up & condemning if he is trying to be socially or economically liberal.
Perhaps, though, it will just never happen at all.
"can receive benefits"
I mean the same benefits anyone on the dole receives, not special benefits. Paying people specifically to do "voluntary" work is another idea I oppose.
Some people would put themselves forward, like I did when I decided I couldn't let being out of a job condemn me to idleness & blank CV. I then got a job on the strength of my volunteering experience. But those who don't have that mentality probably wouldn't be much use.
This seems not to be coming out very well. But I hope I have conveyed a sense of why I slag Camoron off.
I think Cameron is - once again - trying to play up to the blue rinse brigade who form the backbone of the Tory party. He doesn't believe in National Service (or whatever the hell he's calling it) anymore than we do; however, it appeals to a core group in his party.
And besides, politicians will never fully understand volunteerism, because it doesn't give a defined role to the state. If the state doesn't do it, then it isn't quite right.
The problem is that both you and I, Asquith, are both traditional liberals (in a lot of areas). The people who rule us really aren't.
TNL
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home